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Details on Apple's quarterly results
January 15, 2004 - 12:07 PST
By Dennis Sellers - The iPod was the clear winner in terms of both sales and revenues in Apple's most recent fiscal quarter, while "pro" level Macs are catching up to consumer Macs in overall sales. Approximately 227,000 iMacs and eMacs were sold during the last fiscal quarter (which included the holiday season). That's down from 298,000 a year ago. Many analysts and end users feel that the iMac is overdue for a processor upgrade (can you say G5?) and possibly a rejuvenated form factor, though the current dome design has been critically praised and won numerous awards.
In comparison to the iMac-eMac sales, 206,000 Power Macs were sold. The biggest demand for Power Macs is dual processor systems, Apple Chief Financial Officer Fred Anderson said in a press conference yesterday.
Portable Macs had their best showing ever in terms of percentage of sales, accounting for 48 percent of all units sold. Apple sold 195,000 PowerBooks (an all-time quarterly record and up from 101,000 a year ago) and 201,000 iBooks.
"The quarter exceeded our previously announced guidance," Anderson said. "We had a strong sale of both hardware and software, including Panther [Mac OS X 10.3] updates."
An estimated 733,000 iPods were sold, accounting for $256 million in revenue. This doesn't include iPod accessories, which added up to another $14 million. Plus, the iPod numbers would have been even higher, but Apple's supply couldn't keep up with the demand, Anderson said.
Apple's retail initiative noted a profit of $9 million. During the quarter, the company opened eight new stores, including the first one in Tokyo (which averaged an astounding $1 million per week in sales). Quarterly revenue for Apple retail stores was up to $4 million per store, compared to $3.1 million per store for the year-ago quarter. During the holiday season, Apple stores saw 6,000 visitors per store per week, Anderson said. For 2004, retail stores are planned for San Francisco and Osaka, Japan.
Apple's education sales rose 8 percent from the same time period a year ago. Asia-Pacific region sales were up 55 percent year-over-year, compared to increases of 48 percent in Europe, 25 percent in North America and 13 percent in Japan.
One of the downsides of the quarter was a drop in gross margins due to extra warranty expenses. Anderson said that the "faint white spot" issue with some PowerBook and iBooks was the main culprit.
"For the March quarter outlook, we expect our third consecutive quarter of year-over-year double digit growth," Anderson said.
He said Apple expects to earn between 8 cents and 10 cents a share on revenue of $1.8 billion for the second quarter. Analysts previously estimated Apple would earn 7 cents a share on sales of $1.7 billion.
In case you missed it, yesterday Apple reported a first-quarter net profit of US$63 million compared to an $8 million loss in the same period a year ago. Revenue totaled $2 billion, a 36-percent rise over the $1.47 billion in sales it had in last year's first quarter. Excluding an after-tax investment gain of $3 million, or 1 cent per share, Apple made a per-share profit of 16 cents, which met the brightest forecast from Wall Street. Analysts had forecast Apple to post a profit of 14 cents per share, on average, within a range of 13 cents to 16 cents, on revenue of $1.93 billion. On Wednesday, shares of Apple rose 8 cents to close at $24.20 on NASDAQ before results were released, which came after the close of regular U.S. trading. In after-hours trading, the stock slipped to $22.98.
Anderson said that in the first quarter Apple raised $225 million in cash to end the quarter with $4.8 billion. Apple intends to use $300 million of that cash to pay off senior debt due Feb. 16; after this, the company will be debt-free.
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